


Love As It Is - Part 5

by Biodiversity (SoraSato)



Series: Overdrive [5]
Category: Is It Love (Visual Novels)
Genre: Adventure & Romance, Alternate Universe - Modern with Magic, Emotional Roller Coaster, F/M, Jealousy, Multi, Polyamory, Rough Sex, Sex
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-23
Updated: 2020-07-24
Packaged: 2021-03-04 20:55:06
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 16,517
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25472728
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SoraSato/pseuds/Biodiversity
Summary: The kinky adventures of a talented young archaeology student at the Mystic Spell town full of supernatural creatures. She finds herself entangled in a polyamory with the Bartholy brothers, when the drop-dead gorgeous archaeology professor comes along to complicate things even further...NOTE: The character of professor Sebastian Jones is a jaguar shapeshifter as explained in previous parts;Bartholys became Bartolis, Viktor became Vittore, Nicolae became Nicolas, and other minor differences.
Relationships: Nicolae Bartholy/Peter Bartholy/Drogo Bartholy/Sebastian Jones/Original Female Character
Series: Overdrive [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1774561
Kudos: 3





	1. Innocent Beast Part 2

INNOCENT BEAST Part 2

Sebastian looked stylish in Nicolas’s vintage clothes but he felt ill at ease in the company of three vampires.

The Bartoli brothers were looking at him with reserved interest and waiting for explanations. Sienna came back from the kitchen with two cups of tea.

Jones watched the girl put a cup in front of him and sighed.

“I cannot be grateful enough for what you did for me. I owe you my life.”

Drogo frowned and pursed his lips.

Nicolas put his hands onto Sienna’s shoulders and said, looking in the man’s eyes:

“Consider it our making up for all the deaths we’ve caused due to our condition… You should be primarily grateful to Sienna. Otherwise, we would never pay attention to another perished animal.”

Sebastian nodded tensely.

“I fully realize that.” He paused. “Two days before you found me, I got an invitation from the mayor’s assistant. He wanted to meet me in the evening under a banal pretext of finding some interesting information in the archives. As we’ve seen him previously in the same archive with Nicolas, it did not seem suspicious to me at first. But as the conversation veered into the subject of founding families, I realized that our interest in the archives drew the assistant’s attention. We did the social chitchat and I finally left. I had an odd feeling that this conversation had more layers than I could grasp… Early in the morning of the next day, I woke up feeling very strange, as if I was in the process of changing. But my look was left unchanged and I decided to call Nicolas to tell about the bizarre meeting with the mayor’s assistant. Unexpectedly, my throat just closed up and all I could do is wheeze into the mike. I then texted my colleague Brian saying that I had to leave urgently. By the time I sent it, my fingers spasmed and my mind began clouding. I urgently rushed to the woods, where I transformed but it felt like the transformation was forced on me, it was all wrong. My mind was foggy and I felt angry, furious even, and it clouded the clarity of my consciousness. Probably this fading clarity was the most frightening thing… I spent much time in the woods, but then all the familiar smells and sounds started to hurt me, I felt bad in my skin. I remember fighting with a huge wolf, but it seems that I tore it to pieces. I do not remember how I lost my consciousness, but I awoke in a steel cage, with my paws nailed to the floor and my belly slashed. For a while, bleeding cleared my head, the poison probably just leaking out along with blood, but then…” he sighed. “I overheard those hunters planning on how to dispose of my head and hide. Other than that, they were not very informative…”

Nicolas displayed an unpleasant vampiric grin, his eyes flashed menacingly.

“Oh, they were plenty informative when I returned to them! They said they received instructions from their boss, the mayor’s assistant, to hunt down two werewolves, but since they found none and instead stumbled on a badly injured jaguar, they decided to take it as a trophy. Since jaguars were long extinguished in these parts, the poachers figured it was someone’s pet, but they did not bother to look for the owners. As they explained it, ‘no werewolf – no money, so this kitty was just a consolation prize.’”

Sebastian frowned.

“So, the assistant expected me to be a werewolf… Then who would be the poor guy that I ripped to shreds…?”

Nicolas asked him:

“Were you alone with him during your visit to him?”

“I believe so…”

“Did you drink anything?”

Sebastian slowly nodded.

“An herbal liquor. I liked it very much, it smelled very… pure.”

Nicolas pondered on this.

“I would very much want to know the recipe of this concoction… It seems that it incites supernatural creatures to lose control over their abilities… I, for one, after drinking that tea at the mayor’s house, had trouble remaining unchanged, and I did not get myself uncovered only due to my… ah, advanced age and experience. Peter or Drogo would not stand a chance. So, I gather that this mixture did not produce an instant effect on you because you are not what they expected to find… I already made it slip to a few key persons that a jaguar has been living at the Bartoli estate to dissuade local punks from going there, I hope it will do the trick. The veterinarian will be the witness. And as for you, Dr. Jones…” he tossed a leaflet on the table, “you’ve been urgently asked to help restore a Mesoamerican vase for the county museum exhibition that’s been broken during transportation.”

Sebastian took the leaflet, frowning.

“I’m indebted to you, Mr. Bartoli,” he said evenly. “And you will have my full support in your operations. So, I guess we have to know first who else is involved in this travesty of a secret society.”

Nicolas shook his head.

“First, Dr. Jones, you must maintain a high-visibility profile for a while. You’ll give an interview along with the county museum curator next week, she will be praising your help. Peter will go pester our town police demanding to find the poachers. Drogo and Sienna will show their social beasts’ side… that’s what they do best, anyway. Drogo, you have my carte-blanche for any extravagances, Sienna, just make sure he does not go over the top.”

Drogo curved his brow ironically.

“So, will you agree to fund my Black Diamond Soul Mask jewelry line? BDSM for short?”

Nicolas looked at the brother, hesitating. Then he nodded.

“The whole nine yards. With an ad campaign and a real production line. Find fine jewelers. Just one condition: do not put your face in ads, find some look alike.”

Drogo smiled sweetly.

“I already know how to do it…”


	2. Accidental Trio

ACCIDENTAL TRIO

When their meeting ended, Drogo caught Sebastian’s attention and asked him casually:

“What would you say to a bar night out? With the little thing, naturally…”

Sienna looked at him apprehensively and asked him:

“What do you have in mind, Drogo?”

He nonchalantly shrugged his shoulders and looked angelic.

“Just wanted to celebrate the return of our dear professor, that’s all!”

Sebastian chuckled.

“I had no idea you of all people would celebrate that.”

The blond vampire cast him a piercing silvery gaze and grinned malevolently.

“Maybe I am an ‘M’ in the BDSM…”

The professor looked at him with an expression that said he didn’t believe a single word of the vampire.

However, he coolly nodded in acquiescence and checked on Sienna:

“Would you like to go?”

She looked at both men in hesitation and sighed:

“I’d better go with you, just in case…”

Drogo brazenly beamed.

“You underestimate me so much it hurts, little thing!”

The bar was crowded but the two men and Sienna easily found a nice spot near the counter. It happened to be a Champions League night, and all eyes were glued to the screens, waiters making beelines with enormous quantities of beer.

Drogo avidly inhaled the atmosphere, his eyes glinting excitedly.

“A shame I cannot drink beer anymore,” he murmured quietly so that only his companions could hear him. “Still remember radio transmissions of the stuff…”

For the first time, Sebastian looked at him with a genuine interest.

He ordered three stouts and curved his brow inquiringly:

“Care to share?”

A few hours later, Sienna couldn’t recognize the two. They were eagerly discussing a wide array of subjects, sporadically trying to explain things to her. She felt elated, particularly so after all those countless days of dread. The fact that the two most vehement adversaries found a common ground made her singularly happy.

At some point, she hugged them both by the shoulders and stood listening to them with a wide grin on her lips. In return, the men casually put their arms around her torso, never disrupting their conversation, their hands offhandedly caressing her.

In a while, she began nodding from drowsiness, and Sebastian smiled.

“I think we should take her to bed…”

Drogo suspiciously eyed the man.

“Where?”

The professor shrugged his shoulders and said:

“Your mansion is the closest one. I suppose she still has a bed there…”

The vampire slowly nodded.

“Then let’s go…”

They put her on the bed and tucked her. Reluctant to leave, they stood on both sides of the bed, watching their treasured girl.

Finally, the professor sighed and turned to leave but felt her hand tightly gripping him.

“Don’t go, please…” she mumbled without opening her eyes.

The vampire bit his lip and dropped his head, ready to go but her other hand caught his wrist, and she resolutely murmured: “No!”

The two men exchanged amused glances.

Drogo scoffed.

“Greedy little thing…”

The professor chuckled and kicked off his shoes.

“Looks like we’re stuck here,” he whispered, carefully arranging himself on the edge of the bed and lightly pressing himself to the girl’s side.

She sighed contently, still firmly gripping Drogo’s wrist.

The vampire shook his head in disbelief as he watched her lashes slightly trembling.

“She is really sleeping!” he whispered in surprise, listening to her breathing.

Seeing no other option, he also took off his shoes and lay on the other side of her, snuggly leaning to her.

Sienna’s cheeks flushed in satisfaction, and she seemed to fall even deeper into sleep.

The two men exchanged ironic glances and settled to rest on both sides of the girl.

The time slowly crawled by but they remained sleepless, a lot of things on their minds.

Sebastian was watching the girl sleeping. He was tenderly stroking her cheek, her shoulder, brushing her hair, as if mesmerized by her.

Drogo, lying on the other side of Sienna, had his hand lying on her hip. He was observing Sebastian with a reserved expression on his face.

Out of the blue, Sebastian began speaking barely audibly and very slowly, still looking into the girl’s face:

“She was like a revelation. Still is. Brighter than all people around her, with a totally unique, independent, and a well thought-through perspective on life and most social interactions. I remember her first remark, she asked: “Maybe they couldn’t fathom how to live otherwise just because they were perfectly integrated into their habitat and valued what they had? Maybe what we call ‘civilization’ is in fact when people get unsynchronized with life…” We were speaking about backward nations, and it struck me…”

He paused, sighed, and went on very quietly:

“And she lives every moment so fully that sometimes I wish I could peek through her eyes and see what she sees… I feel totally defenseless against her, she turns my will into water…”

Drogo sighed.

“So, I’m not alone to feel that way. And there I was hating myself for weakness… When she looks me in the eyes, I feel… alive...! But if you tell it to anyone, I’ll stuff it up your throat, capiche? It drives me crazy because I want her to look at me ceaselessly; when she starts to look away, it’s like winter comes back with double strength. And at that moment I am ready to tear the world apart… I know I can’t have her all to myself, I know that I will outlive her, and it transforms my existence into torture.”

Suddenly Sienna started to toss around in bed, turned to Drogo, and, without opening her eyes, mumbled:

“Stupid. Waste your time on torturing yourself instead of enjoying the moment…! So stupid!”

Both guys smiled tenderly.

“You’ve heard our little sleeping Bodhisattva,” whispered Sebastian, smiling. “Carpe Diem!”

Then he paused and said thoughtfully: “Did you know that many animals had a bone that gave the boner its name?”

Drogo frowned.

“What are you getting at?”

Sebastian gave him a long look, and then uttered slowly:

“Just saying…”

The vampire laid back, lost in thought, then pronounced: “Huh,” as if he meant to say “interesting.”

Then he narrowed his eyes suspiciously.

“Why would you tell me this?”

Sebastian sighed.

“I don’t know. I’ve observed you two, and it seemed like a good idea to tell you. She wants you, and you want her…”

Drogo frowned.

“Are you so sure of yourself or just ready to give her up for good?”

Jones laughed softly.

“I’m not the one balancing between making love to her and eating her.”

Drogo was silent for a while, his teeth gritting. Then abruptly, he burst out in angry whisper:

“You’ve got no idea what it’s like!”

Jones sighed.

“You’re right, I don’t. But to make love without relief when the other party is cumming must be one hell of a feat!”

Drogo silently nodded and, exhausted, laid his head back on the pillow.

Sebastian was lying on the other side of sleeping Sienna and musing on something.

After a while, he mumbled: “What the hell…” and rose on his elbow to better see Drogo.

“Listen… There is an ancient Taoist tantric text, it’s called the Jade Scrolls, I happen to have access to it… I don’t know if it will work for you, but… maybe you’ll find something useful in it…”

The vampire looked at the man in surprise and frowned.

“Why are you suddenly being so helpful?”

Sebastian gave him a direct stare and answered:

“First, and foremost, I’m thinking about her safety. And, second…” he hesitated, “for someone in your condition, you are making a gigantic effort, and I can only respect that.”


	3. The Dice

THE DICE

“Everybody knows that the dice are loaded…” the song went on “Everybody knows that you love me baby…” and Sienna, as if entranced, let her loved one sway her to the dance, feeling his powerful yet gentle hands sculpt and guide her moves. She wanted this moment to last forever, but the song ended, and she found herself staring into the void, forbidding herself to look at him, but feeling his breath and his heat behind her back. She felt him remove the ribbon that served him as a blindfold for their new performance, and made an effort not to let hot fantasies distract her.

Nancy, their dance instructor, clapped her hands and smiled:

“Everyone did well today! Good job! Dr. Jones, Sienna, you may have another half-hour for practice, and I wanted to remind you once again about that offer. The clip maker was very serious, he wants you, Dr. Jones, to perform in Rojanna’s new video.”

Sebastian scoffed.

“Nancy, I’m an archaeologist, not a play-thing to some whimsical starlet. I can’t wait for my expedition to begin, we’ll have plenty of performance in the jungle, balancing on precarious stones and dancing our way through crocodiles and jaguars. I cannot be distracted now, you may say as much to the clip maker.”

Nancy sighed and shook her head.

“I do believe that you are wasting a great opportunity…”

Sienna composed herself, turned to Sebastian and, trying not to melt under his gaze, supported her instructor:

“The fame is fickle, no one will remember in a year’s time that clip, but it’s a great opportunity to do something… different…”

The man made a few impatient steps back and forth, his body language more and more reminding Sienna of the big feline, it was as if he was angrily swishing his tail and growling discontentedly.

Finally, he grumbled “I will think about it,” and left the dancehall for the locker room.

Sienna sighed.

“I guess there will be no additional training today,” and she went to gather her towel.

Corrie, her purple-headed friend, hugged her.

“Good performance though! This idea of blindfolding him is bordering on indecent it’s so sensual! If Rojanna sees this dance, she will kidnap him!”

Both girls laughed, Sienna rolling her eyes.

Corrie cast her a foxy glance and asked:

“And who is inventing all this crazy stuff?”

Sienna grinned.

“The Internet, mostly, and me, a little bit. Dr. Jones is just reckless enough to agree to it. I guess it’s an ongoing experiment to find the limit to his possibilities…”

Corrie laughed.

“I wonder how it goes? There you are frolicking with Drogo, and suddenly you’re, like, ‘wait a minute, I have this crazy dance idea, I’d better go explain it to my archaeology teacher!’ I’m telling you, sweetie, one of these days, one of these men will strangle you like Othello!”

Sienna turned pink and nodded:

“I admit, sometimes it’s a bit awkward. Drogo is not the kind of person to tolerate another man, but once I had a dance with Dr. Jones in a pub – and it was completely unintended and unexpected! – I understood that he would be the perfect dance partner! He is flexible, dexterous, incredibly strong and he acutely feels the music…”

Corrie shook her head, grinning:

“Oh, sounds like the beginnings of a love affair!”

Sienna rubbed her face with her palms tiredly and sighed.

“I will not dissuade you, Corrie. Maybe there is some truth to what you say. I just love to dance with this man, it’s like he can perfectly attune himself to the melody, to the partner, and lightly play in the sound field like fish play in the water. I advise you to ask him for a dance next time, you’ll understand better what I’m talking about.”

Her friend laughed and winked at Sienna.

“Aren’t you afraid that I will steal your prize partner?”

Sienna made an effort and laughed.

“Are you afraid you’d be swept off your feet?”

She darted out of the locker room, gasping for air. She felt so feverish that she could hardly make a conversation with her friends. Wild fantasies of ravishing the man right in the locker room, sparked by his touch, obsessed her like a flock of crows. She looked at her clothes. She was still in the dancing outfit, so, she went into the dance hall, switched on music, and began dancing.

On the other side of the hallway, Sebastian, in his usual well-tailored coat, was sitting on a bench and listening to the sounds of the blaring music.

***

It was another fine morning, and Sarah was prancing at the entrance to the campus, impatiently waiting for her friend.

As Sienna climbed out of the red sportscar and kissed Drogo goodbye, her friend accosted her right away:

“Hey, dolly! I bought this mag just for your picture! It’s so clever! And so stylish! I was dying of envy when I saw it!”

Sienna hugged her friend and laughed.

“Thank you, my dear! The photoshoot was indeed very fun, but they did not allow any outsider there, sorry. Otherwise, I would definitely bring you there!”

Sarah giggled.

“You should watch out for Samantha. If she sees this – and she will – she will flip off the charts and try to drown you in her bile!”

Sienna shrugged her shoulders impassively.

“Oh, as if I cared!”

Sarah opened the magazine she was holding in her hand and began ogling the BDSM ad.

The picture was provocative and profound at the same time.

Sarah, eyes wide, whispered:

“You have such a gaze here! It’s like the photographer could stare right into your soul! There is so much in it! It’s mesmerizing!”

Sienna’s face dimmed.

“Ah, yes…”

She instantly transported into the moment when Drogo whispered to her: “Think of dancing with Sebastian!” and the camera shutter made a series of clicks.

When he showed her the picture that he had chosen, it was so revealing that she shuddered.

Drogo, appearing calm, said to her:

“I saw you looking at him when he was at our manor. There is nothing in the world that could compare to this look. I would do anything for you to look at me like that…”

And he left her standing there, with the picture in her hands, gasping.

Sienna shook her head, chasing away the memory, and smiled to her friend.

Sarah just could not give it a rest:

“And the man’s shoulder, it’s Drogo, right?”

Sienna rolled her eyes.

“See the blond mane behind my head? Who do you think that is?”

Her friend grinned.

“Just teasing! He has very beautifully proportioned arms, and his skin looks smooth as marble… Beautiful picture… It has this… fragility, it’s almost painfully deep… There is a hint at restrained violence, but just a hint, a thought, an idea… a discord…” and suddenly Sarah gasped “Oh…!”

She looked like she had a revelation. She plunged her gaze into Sienna’s eyes and whispered barely audibly:

“This is a story of a man who loves a woman loving another man! This is so… sad, and moving…”

Sienna lowered her gaze and sighed.

“That’s Drogo for you. A totally another world on the inside. A world of absolute beauty and pain. He has the ability to torture himself like no one else could, and I just cannot stay away from him, he mesmerizes me. And also makes me laugh and angers me… and frightens just to awaken my senses… He is unique… There you have it! You made me talk about Drogo!”

Sarah’s eyes widened in surprise.

“So, you… love him?”

Sienna nodded.

“Yes, deeply. What an odd question!”

Her friend shook her head.

“The picture told me otherwise…”

Sienna sighed impatiently.

“This picture is a piece of art. It tells a story. Drogo’s vision. Now let’s go, I don’t want to skip anatomy again!”

But as soon as they entered the building, they became the center of general attention. The reactions were very varied, from hot to cold, from adoration to hate, but Sienna strode with her friend through the crowd with her usual warm smile.

Finally, they made it to the lecture hall, and that’s where Samantha was lying in wait.

“So, little miss Richards, you’ve got such a sad face when you finally realized that you cannot have the best of two worlds? This picture just cries despair…”

Sienna did not even condescend to reply to the petty remark and went on to choose a place, but Samantha was not ready to give up yet.

“With this amount of Photoshop even little miss Richards can enjoy some popularity…!”

But as soon as she said it, Drogo showed up in the lecture hall. He strolled nonchalantly past Samantha, then turned around and squinted at her, then exclaimed:

“Huh, I thought I saw someone but I guess Photoshop cannot paint a human being where there is none!” and proceeded to sit beside Sienna.

The lecturer made his appearance and, seeing Sarah, Sienna, and Drogo sitting together, pronounced in surprise:

“Isn’t this our star couple finally honoring us with their presence…! Or did I die and go to heaven…? A nice ad campaign by the way, you’re full of hidden talents. So, today’s lecture is appropriately about the face bone structure in various ethnic groups and visual recognition of sex attributes based on skull features…”

***

As Drogo disappeared from the hallway, Sarah exclaimed:

“Whew! I’d say his appearance was very timely! This Samantha squirrel was ready to go to any length to get at you!”

Sienna shrugged her shoulders indifferently.

“Meh, professor Dartsmorth would eventually put a stop to her ravings. But, it’s just as well… I keep thinking about that circular structure at our study dig site… I know that we are supposed to come to our own conclusions, but… I think you must have a unique perspective on this, Sarah… I believe that structure is a kiva… I just cannot understand why it’s empty…”

Sarah cocked her head.

“An interesting idea. How about we go there to check it out?”

Sienna hesitated.

“We shouldn’t dig without supervision…”

Sarah laughed

“Ah, spoil-sport! First, you pose an interesting question, and then you do not want to go check it!”

Her friend scowled.

“All right. If you promise me not to disturb anything, we might not wait until tomorrow…”

The girls, conspiratorially giggling, hurried to the exit.

Sienna observed the meticulously laid out dig site with a sense of pride. All in all, their class made tremendous progress in these months, and where there was just dirt, now lay the foundations of a whole village. The round foundation stood apart and could be interpreted in several ways, it could be a storage, a granary, a curing room… but Sienna preferred the kiva version, although there had been no evidence found so far.

“The kivas were built partially below ground, so, theoretically, we should dig deeper to be certain… We’ll do that tomorrow, but maybe there are some indications that we could spot today…” she said to her friend, sounding hopeful.

Sarah nodded.

“Let’s go…”

The next hour, the girls spent on their fours inside and outside the round basement but could not find any proof of their theory or otherwise.

Sienna was disappointed but tried to see the bright side.

“At least we can safely tell others that this basement is thoroughly studied and that we can now go deeper…”

Sarah laughed.

“Yeah! That was an instructive hour! Oh well, at least we tried…! What is the plan now?”

Sienna shrugged her shoulders and checked her phone. There was a missed call and a text from Nicolas.

The text read: “Please come back to the manor after your classes without delay.”

The girl sighed.

“Eh, Nicolas wants to see me for something, so I guess the plan for today is dropping me at the manor…”

Her friend sighed.

“All right, sweetie. I hope there is nothing serious… I still cringe at the thought that we went to all that trouble to find Dr. Jones just to learn that he was away for business!”

Sienna hugged her friend.

“But we saved a rare animal from poachers and from certain death!”

Sarah smiled.

“Ah, you’re such a green-head! But I agree, this jaguar is a marvelous creature! How is he?”

Sienna allowed herself to smile.

“Oh, he is well alive and kicking!”

Sarah switched on the ignition.

“Glad to hear it. You had such a face when we found him as if you stumbled on a mass grave!”

Sienna sighed.

“You know, early on in my archaeological studies, I came to peace with the idea that people have been doing all sorts of atrocities to each other. But I still cannot understand such barbarism toward innocent creatures…”

“And yet you wear the miniver wrap, my dear,” Sarah mocked her gently, keeping her eyes on the road.

Sienna shrugged her shoulders.

“I do not see any discrepancy here. If it were for me, I wouldn’t buy such a thing, not to promote the trade. But since these animals already died and gave up their furs, I’m wearing it to honor their deaths, to thank them for keeping me warm, and to say that they did not die in vain. I believe that true barbarism is to destroy such furs. It’s like saying that they died in vain…”

Sarah glanced at her friend.

“You sure have thought this through! But doesn’t it look like you’re promoting the trade by wearing the wrap?”

Sienna shrugged her shoulders.

“Or incite conversations about this problem.”

Sarah laughed.

“You’re just making it look sexy!”

Her friend made a funny face.

“Well, duh!”

The girl mounted the stairs to the manor and barely touched the door handle when Nicolas opened it from the other side.

“Come in, we’re in the library…”

Sienna dropped her bag on a chair and followed Nicolas without asking any questions.

In the library, the tall black-haired man turned away from the window to look at the newcomers.

Sienna’s eyes widened.

“Sebastian!”

Tentatively, she took a step toward him, then hesitated and sheepishly approached him, acutely aware of Nicolas’s gaze on her.

Calmly and self-assuredly, the professor took her hand and planted a soft kiss on her cheek, and this manly gesture calmed the girl. She smiled at him.

“Is everything all right?” she asked, holding his hand.

Jones gestured for her to sit down at the table, and the two men took their seats on both sides of her.

Sienna felt uncomfortably naked under their gazes, so, she cleared her throat and asked impatiently:

“What is this about?”

Sebastian exchanged glances with Nicolas and explained:

“First, I’d like to assure you that there is nothing wrong happening. I just wanted to ask you how you would describe the taste and the effect of tea that you drank at the mayor’s house because you are the only one who can attest to the ‘human’ effect of this concoction. I intend to ask his assistant about the recipe and ingest it to understand its effect on such as me. Nicolas here kindly agreed to lock me up in the mansion’s ballroom for the duration of the brew effect for the safety of everyone…” he pushed a newspaper that was lying on the table toward Sienna. There was a portrait on the first page with the title ‘Missing’ in huge bold letters. Sebastian sighed. “I believe I’m the culprit if this man was indeed the werewolf…”

The girl thought it over, staring at the portrait of a vaguely familiar young man. Then she gravely replied:

“I think I should be the first to taste the assistant’s potion just in case those are two different mixtures. As to the effect of the one I tasted at the mayor’s, it had a very interesting effect on me. First, it felt divine, as if a golden cloud descended upon me. But then it accentuated my dark side, heightened my emotions, made me impatient… But, thinking about it now, I believe that the mayor also took it, because he seemed… angry and edgy. So, maybe this concoction also acts as a prevention against, say… hypnotism…?” she paused. “As I see it, I should be the one asking the mayor for the recipe, because I’m the least suspicious of us three… five… And you’ll be able to tell by the smell of it if it is the same that you drank. The only question stands why would you drink it at all? Maybe it’s noxious for you!”

Sebastian shook his head.

“We need to understand this substance and it’s properties to recognize it and know what to do about it in the future.”

Nicolas nodded and supported the professor.

“I will take it too, at another time, of course. I will also ask you to lock me up. Then we will compare our impressions and decide what to do next.”

Sienna sighed. She realized that both men were determined to do this reckless experiment with or without her involvement.

“Just let me try to weasel it out of the mayor first. Next week, there will be a charity event, we could get invitations…”

Sebastian frowned.

“I don’t want you to be involved.”

The girl glared at him.

“And I do not want you to take this stuff. But would you listen to me? Case closed.”

He tried to put his hand on hers, but she removed her hand from the table, knowing full well the effect his touch had on her. Somehow, Nicolas’s presence made her feel awkward and reluctant to display her true affection toward the professor.

The vampire sighed.

“All right. I think it’s settled then. We wait for the charity event, Sienna tries to obtain the recipe, and then we proceed onto the next stage…”

Sebastian nodded, the girl nodded too.

The pause dragged on until Jones leaned on his hands, stood up, and bowed to Nicolas.

“Thank you for your assistance,” he uttered, glanced at the girl, nodded to her, and went for the exit.

Sienna cast an almost angry gaze at the vampire, said: “I’ll see him off,” and scurried after the professor.

She darted out of the main entrance door just in time to fall into his arms as into a life-buoy and felt his lips on her lips with enormous relief.

“I’ll see you tomorrow, on Wednesday, at the dig site,” he whispered breathlessly, gently removing strands of hair from her face.

She breathed heavily, her eyes closed, melting in the bliss of his embrace. She realized that she was clutching at the lapels of his coat with all her strength as if her life depended on it.

Sebastian carefully breathed out and eased his coat from the girl’s clasp.

“I should go,” he whispered in a hoarse voice, stepped back from her, resolutely turned around and rushed to the gate.

Sienna stood at the foot of the staircase and rolled her head back to breathe and to watch the night sky.

Then she closed her eyes and murmured:

“This is becoming a nightmare…”

The heat was consuming her, and she realized that no amount of sex with the vampires would douse it.

She sighed and went inside.

She picked up her bag at the entrance, brushed past Nicolas, and went straight to her room. She needed to calm down before she could go play with Lorie.

But on top of the stairs, she saw Drogo standing there with a closed-up face. Something broke inside her.

The girl let out a loud sob and hugged the blond vampire.

The latter sighed and lifted her shuddering body into his arms.

The warm bath and Drogo’s silent presence soothed her.

She could not bring herself to talk to him and was silently grateful to him for remaining at her side.

Finally, he wiped away her tears, gently stroking her cheeks, and said in an artificially ironic voice:

“And there I thought there was nothing worse than you ridding my chest with bullets…” he paused, then added “Your tears make me so angry…! Because I cannot do anything to stop them…”

Sienna caressed his cheek and leaned her forehead against it.

“I do not know what I would do without you, Drogo.”

And she started gratefully kissing him on the mouth. The vampire moaned, knowing full well that these kisses were not meant for him, and feeling too weak to refuse them. Beggars aren’t choosers…

Tonight, Drogo surprised her in many very satisfying ways. Starting with his hips plastering her against the bathtub with so much more physicality than mere desire, and ending with his shudders and groans of pure orgasm, and the ecstasy written in his every feature, in his red eyes and open fanged mouth. Then he looked at the girl, his eyes quickly returning to normal and his canines retracting.

He sighed deeply and whispered with deep satisfaction:

“I had you without killing you. You were mine, I could feel it.”

Sienna also sighed, completely satisfied, and lightly kissed him.

“You’re still hard. It feels so good!”

Drogo crookedly grinned.

“Next time I see your professor, remind me to kiss him. He saved my life. And yours.”

The girl smiled.

“When you’re done talking riddles, make me cum again!”

They were lazing in warm water, the blond vampire languidly tracing arabesques on her skin and feeling divinely relaxed for the first time in decades; the girl had laid her head in the hollow of his neck, feeling placated.

“I am probably the worst kind of slut,” she sighed. “Or a nymphomaniac, or both…”

Drogo laughed softly and answered in a completely detached manner:

“Maybe. I don’t care.”

He switched on hot water for a while to make the bath hotter, then stroked the girl’s shoulder and kissed her.

***

Sebastian did not remember how he drove home. All that he wanted was to smash something to pieces. He abandoned his car in front of his house and stormed inside, throwing his clothes and shoes to the floor. Then he went into his tatami room and began hitting the punchbag with such a force that in a few blows the huge heavy punchbag flew across the room and split, its contents spilling all around. But the man was still infuriated with the situation, so he proceeded to hit the speedball, then to lift the barbell, all this without any system, just trying to quell the mayhem inside him.

When he finally exhausted himself, he went to the backyard and dove into the cold pool. It did him good, and when he finally climbed out of it, he was more or less calm.

A phone ring startled him. It was too late for any social calls, but if something happened…

He grabbed the phone and stared incredulously at the screen. His mother. What on earth…?

He took the call.

“Mom? Did something happen?”

On the other side of the line, his mother’s voice answered:

“You tell me! There I was sleeping, and then suddenly I wake up in cold sweat from a dream where a man holds me your dead head on a platter! You know full well that I am a reasonable person, but my intuition just went haywire! What did you get yourself into?!”

Sebastian sighed.

“Can you describe to me that man?”

His mother diligently began:

“A short man of about 60 years old, about 5’5, roundish, brachycephalic, gray hair, murky middle brown eyes with the yellowish sclera, like those who have issues with their liver and with anger…”

“All right, I get it,” interrupted her Sebastian. “Tell me, did you by any chance look through some Mystic Spell local news site or some such?”

His mother sighed.

“I saw a new interview with you, so, I naturally read it.”

“Could you open that site again? Are there any ads…?”

By the speed with which his mother opened the relevant site, Sebastian figured it was already open.

“What should I look for?”

He hesitated.

“Can you see this man anywhere?”

“Um… No. There is a rather tastefully made jewelry ad, a context-sensitive banner of alpaca wool… No, I can’t see this man anywhere…”

Her son pressed on.

“So, you couldn’t see him before that, mom?”

The lady started to lose her patience.

“I cannot be one hundred percent sure, but what does it have to do with anything?!”

Sebastian carefully exhaled before saying:

“You’ve just described the mayor of Mystic Spell…”

***

“Just kill me!” Sarah was beyond herself with frustration – the basement of the round structure refused to yield any more clues even after both girls dug in for at least a foot.

Sienna angrily tossed her trowel and stood with her arms akimbo in the middle of the mudbrick circle.

“Damn it!”

Their angry voices attracted the attention of Dr. Jones. The professor came closer to see what all the commotion was about. Other students were mostly occupied with their own plots and raised their heads at most.

“What’s the matter, ladies?” asked Jones good-naturedly, peeking into the circle.

Sienna sniffled and sighed.

“We wanted to know whether this structure could be… uh… a kiva, so we dug lower, but it seems that the mudbrick wall stops higher than that…”

A sly smile appeared on the professor’s lips, his eyes glinting with gentle mockery.

“Uh-huh…” he uttered. “So… what’s your conclusion, Miss Richards?”

The girl pouted.

“I’ve no idea, sir! This structure drives me crazy!”

The man smiled.

“Now, does it? Think, Miss Richards. Calm down and think. Look at the top edge of your pit.”

Sienna glared at him and defiantly curved her brow.

Sebastian shook his head disapprovingly and in one fluid movement legged the wall. Once inside, he took her trowel and tapped the edge of their small excavation.

The compressed earth gave a predictably dull sound.

“So, what’s this?” he asked looking at both girls.

Sarah made a face.

“It’s a dirt floor.”

Dr. Jones nodded.

“Exactly. Thank you, Miss Osborne.” He turned to Sienna. “And that means…?”

The girl looked frustrated. She tried her best to sound rational, fighting off her wounded pride:

“Means that this is no kiva. We dug through the floor.” She was doing her best to keep to the facts, as self-depreciation was as bad as pride.

Dr. Jones nodded in agreement without looking too pleased.

He gently said:

“You see, Miss Richards, in our field, it is very important to stay grounded and not to indulge in wishful thinking. Your due diligence is commendable, but when you see the floor, you make adjustments to your theory and move on. We have to learn early on that life is ridden with frustrations, and the best way to prevent frustration is to expect nothing…”

His last phrase had a tinge of bitterness, but the professor smiled kindly to the girls and waved at another plot.

“You may start to clear that spot, number 72… I expect your conclusion on the round structure to contain at least some grounding.”

***

Although it was Wednesday, the digs went on for the whole day, and there was no way Sienna could reach the campus in time for the dance class. On the other hand, it meant that she didn’t have to make up excuses for being late at the manor. The disappointment with the round building drove her to be super-attentive at plot 72, which yielded a magnificent pottery fragment and significantly improved her mood.

All in all, the day turned out to be a success for the whole digging team, and the majority decided to end the night at a local bar. They insisted upon their professor coming, and the merry company spilled into the Hoot’s Hooves, flooding it with their excited brouhaha.

It was a country music night, which meant that everyone was dancing and having loads of fun. Except for Sienna, who just couldn’t stand the sight of Sebastian dancing and laughing with his students. She couldn’t stand him at all. The sight of his handsome smiling face, the graceful moves of his beautiful long-limbed body, his easy-going kind attitude – all this made the girl’s skin crawl.

So, she just crept outside the bar for a gulp of the fresh night air. Soon, the ever-vigilant Sarah joined her on the porch.

Unexpectedly, Sienna hugged her friend and sighed:

“I cannot stand it anymore! I cannot stand the sight of him!”

Sarah frowned, worried.

“Who are you talking about, dolly?”

Sienna let a lump slide down her throat, then whispered:

“Our professor.”

Sarah’s eyes almost popped out of their sockets.

“Are you talking about Dr. Jones??? But he did not humiliate you or anything, he just pointed out our mistake…”

Sienna sniffled and said as if she did not hear her friend:

“I cannot stand how he looks, how he talks, I do not want him to touch me during our dance classes! I do not want to see him at all!!!”

Stupefied, Sarah rubbed her friend’s back soothingly and offered:

“Do you want me to take you home?”

Sienna sniffled again.

“Take me to your home, please. Right now, I can’t stand any of them!”

Sarah’s brows shot up, but she agreed.

Sienna sighed.

“I’m sorry if I sound hysterical, but that’s how I am feeling right now. I will need a few weeks of total immersion in studies. I’ll drop out of dances in exchange for taekwondo or some such, I will still visit the manor just for the time with Lorie, and I will block all calls from a few people…”

Her friend grew more and more worried.

“Woah! Sweetie! This sure sounds radical! Can you tell me what’s happening?”

Sienna bit her lower lip.

“I…” she was on the verge of blurting it all out, but the door to the bar opened, letting the loud ruckus invade the porch, and a few students barged out, yelling and giggling.

It shook her up. She blinked, as if letting go of some dark cloud, sighed to Sarah with relief and told her:

“Thanks for supporting me, dear! I really needed to unwind…! Oh, do you hear that tune? I love it, let’s dance!”

She grabbed her uncomprehending friend by the arm and dragged her inside.

Seeing her dancing, a few students started pleading Dr. Jones to show them the ‘hellish eight’ dance, as it came to be dubbed by many. The girl was pushed toward the professor and looked him in the eyes with a defiant look.

But he suddenly started to back away, saying that he already drank too much for such a dangerous performance.

There was such disappointment in the girl’s eyes when she threw at him: “Sucker!” that Sebastian clenched his teeth and felt his stomach in knots. The girl turned around to leave, and he exclaimed:

“We did not train today. How about rehearsing this new dance with the blindfold?”

Now, Sienna had to admit that this was ballsy!

Feeling the tension that had been wringing her body for the past 24 hours return, the girl froze in her tracks, reluctant to turn her head and face him.

“What’s this dance?” there were lots of similar questions people were very enthusiastic about the prospect of watching a new breathtaking performance.

Sienna shook her head.

“It’s in the rough stages… We haven’t figured out yet all of the moves…”

“Show anyway!” a few supporters yelled, spilling their beer.

The girl screwed up her face.

“It’s a country music night! It will not go well with our performance!” she started to make her way through the crowd, away from the professor, but the latter caught her by the elbow and whispered in her ear:

“If not that dance, we are totally capable of making people happy with a sparkly country dance, let them have at least something…”

Sienna let out a controlled exhale, balled up her will, and smiled.

“Let’s do it!”

And they started to dance so engagingly that soon the whole building shook with the general merriment.

Contrary to her expectations, dancing did improve the girl’s mood, and she let Sebastian dance with her a while longer. He was so irresistible with his easy merry smiles, featherlight moves, playful body language, his fluidity and flexibility, his long graceful limbs, and mesmerizingly sculpted torso visible through his tee! And the borrowed cowboy hat on his head could do many a student into a lustful frenzy.

Afterwards, they found a decent place to sit and finally got a chance to talk without anyone being able to eavesdrop on them in the general commotion.

“Are you all right?” Sebastian practically yelled in her ear.

Sienna negatively shook her head, leaned to his ear, and also almost yelled:

“I cannot do it anymore!”

He stared at her, then asked:

“Meaning?”

She filled her lungs full of air and shouted:

“I cannot be away from you! I’d rather drop out of your class and out of your life altogether than touch you once more without being able to… continue it with you and not somebody else!”

Sebastian’s eyes attentively tried to read her. Then he leaned to her ear and said:

“Me neither. I’m totally losing it. Let’s slip out of this place!”

The girl nodded, they leisurely stood up and unhurriedly made it to the exit.

Once outside, they took his car and drove to the man’s house.

Having closed the front door behind them, Sebastian shrugged off his coat, took Sienna’s jacket, grabbed her in his arms, and went to the bedroom.

There, he put her on the bed and began unbuckling his belt.

“I should’ve never let you out of my grasp in the first place…” he said in a hoarse voice, his eyes alight with a wild glint.

Sienna crawled on the bed toward the man and assisted him in unzipping his jeans. Her avid mouth clang to the lowest part of his belly, while she was pushing the jeans down his buttocks. Sebastian moaned and quickly pulled off his tee, watching his lover’s head slide even lower. He gasped, his mouth watering. The delightful torture went on, but he could not stand still anymore. He pushed the girl away from him, got rid of her clothes, and made her lie on her back.

She had the impression that his lips, tongue, and hands were everywhere on her skin, and she slipped into a trance-like state of rapture so intense that she would be incapable of producing any straight thought, all her senses aflame with the man’s caresses.

She was tousling his hair when she felt him finally pushing between her legs, his fingers making their way into her anus. She whimpered, feeling such volcanic fire consuming her that hell would seem like an ice-skating rink in comparison.

“Sebastian, please, more!” she moaned breathlessly, feeling his full length sliding inside her pussy.

But he fell into an uneven rhythm that did not give her the possibility to cum, prolonging instead her agony. He did not want to rush it this time.

“I will take the last one bit of you,” he whispered to her. “I will drink the smell of your skin… and your every moan, and your every breath…”

He was making love to her until the wee hours of the morning and made them cum only when the first ray of sunlight touched the horizon.

Afterward, they lay kissing and caressing each other for a while longer, completely oblivious to the outside world.

“Never, ever leave me again,” he whispered between kisses, and the girl smiled:

“You’ve just stolen my line!”

The man laughed.

“I am shattered to pieces. Literally.”

They cuddled against each other and peacefully fell asleep in the gentle rays of the rising sun.

***

After emptying the pan of scrambled-eggs into their plates, Sebastian sat in front of his lover and dug in with a fierce appetite.

“You know,” he said evenly, “There is a possibility that I will have to resign from the University, so, I’m warning you that I will not be able to buy you any diamonds or furs any time soon…”

Sienna frowned.

“Why would you resign? Do they make some sort of ethical sweeps of their bachelor teachers’ homes?”

Sebastian sighed.

“I’m just saying. And I should probably call Nicolas…”

The girl made a lazy gesture.

“I’ll call him. Just give me a minute to finish my breakfast!”

But Nicolas was the first one to call her.

“Please tell me that you are with Dr. Jones!” he exclaimed in the guise of ‘hello.’

“Yes, I’m with him.”

Nicolas let out a long exhale.

“Ok. So I figured. Do you want me to bring you your things?”

Sienna looked at Sebastian. The latter vigorously nodded.

“Yes, please. It doesn’t change our other plans, and I will drop by in the evening to play with Lorie.”

There was a short pause on the other end of the line, then Nicolas said evenly:

“All right.”

***

Sienna had never felt such a huge relief as she did today.

When Sarah saw the girl at the entrance to the campus, she could not but ask:

“So, I guess your yesterday’s crisis is over?”

Sienna nodded.

“Yep.”

“What happened?”

Sienna smiled.

“I moved in to… my dance partner,” she whispered as a couple of students were passing them.

Sarah’s jaw dropped. She stopped in her tracks and turned to face her friend.

“No way! What… how… urgh! Can you fill me in here?! Because otherwise, my head will explode!!! Are you talking about… OMG, no way!”

Sienna laughed at her friend’s bewilderment.

“Oh, you’re so cute when you are excited!” she teased Sarah.

The latter frowned.

“Not funny! Tell me everything! At once!”

A few students passing them cheered:

“Awesome performance last night, Richards! That shack rocked!”

The girl grinned and waved to the buddies, then turned again to Sarah. This time they were interrupted by Samantha:

“How come you’re still here, Richards?! Shouldn’t you be at the dean’s begging him to save your dear professor’s career? After last night, he should be marrying you if he were a decent man!”

Sienna, making absolutely no sign that Samantha’s words worried her, curved her brow and asked defiantly:

“What are you blabbering about, little Sammy?”

A bit disconcerted by the ‘little Sammy,’ Samantha nevertheless retorted:

“You tell me! Everyone was there when you performed your sluttish dances around him!”

Sienna scoffed.

“Are you jealous, Samantha? Maybe I should get a dance with your Loan instead?”

Sammy flushed and yelled:

“Don’t you dare come around him in a mile radius! Or you’ll regret it to the rest of your miserable life!!!”

And she stormed away, letting Sienna’s pealing laughter ring in her wake.

Sarah was laughing along with Sienna, and they were doing so for quite a bit, letting everyone around them know that they’ve ridiculed the worst bad mouth on campus.

Having calmed down, Sarah shook her head.

“I’m afraid there will be repercussions…”

Sienna shrugged her shoulders.

“If worse comes to worst, I’ll ask Peter to hypnotize her. Maybe it’s a good idea to do it today before this squirrel spreads her toxins far and wide… Let’s go to the library, he must be there…”

Her friend did not argue, her hatred for the Bartolis having significantly diminished after their joint search party, but she was not ready to let go of what promised to be the most exciting story of the day:

“So, do I get to learn the full story within the next decade of this century?”

Sienna squinted at her friend.

“Can I do it safely, no matter how our relationship with you develops after that?”

Sarah’s eyes widened.

“That serious?! Wow! Well, then… if you do not feel like telling me, then don’t. But if you do, then I can promise you that I will be silent as a grave. Cross my heart and hope to die!”

Sienna sighed and quietly told her friend almost everything, omitting the juiciest details and the shapeshifting ability of her lover.

Sarah was listening with her mouth open and several times exclaimed: “Wow!” or “No way!” and by the end was so impressed that fell silent and only nodded to Peter, who met them at the library with a slight grin on his face.

He cast an attentive gaze at Sarah, and Sienna explained to him:

“I just filled her in on some of our… ah… relationship issues.”

“Oh, that…!” if vampires could blush, Peter would certainly be blushing now.

The girl sighed.

“Yeah. How are they?”

Peter shrugged his shoulders.

“Predictably. Drogo went into the woods and we can expect him to return no sooner than in a week, Lorie threw a tantrum that you were a meanie, and Nicolas, after returning from… ah… your new house locked himself up in the library.”

Sienna sighed and nodded, accepting the situation.

“Do you understand that I could not do otherwise?” she asked him guiltily.

Peter sighed and nodded.

“Yes. It was hard to watch you fall apart. Sometimes we cannot preserve ourselves without hurting others.”

The girl cleared her throat.

“Thank you, Peter. There is one other thing. You know Samantha, how she is. Yesterday, after the digs, the whole bunch of us went to the nearby bar, where I danced with… ahem… Dr. Jones. She makes a big fuss about it. Could you… dampen her reaction a bit?”

Peter slyly smiled and nodded.

“Of course. I’ll go find her right now. It’s Mass-Spectro that you gonna have now?”

“Yes. It’s in Block A.”

The vampire smiled at her and zoomed out of the library.

***

Taking the last step to his door, he felt a mounting wave of anticipation, hope, excitement, and anxiety. What’s waiting for him inside?

His heart was beating so fast and so powerfully that seemed to be able to jump out of his ribcage.

His mouth suddenly dry, he inserted the key into the hole and turned it. The lock clicked and let him step into the hallway.

He closed the door behind him and listened. An average human being would not hear light steps, approaching the hallway. But he was not average, and his heart leapt from joy.

He smiled, as Sienna’s head gingerly peeked from the guestroom.

He exhaled with such relief as if he had been hauling a few tons worth on his shoulders.

“Honey, I’m home,” he murmured, beaming and squeezing the girl’s fragrant body in his arms.

Sienna pressed herself tightly to Sebastian’s torso and closed her eyes, concentrating on overwhelming feelings.

They stood still for a couple of minutes, trying to believe what they were feeling and quenching the hunger for living this exact moment. It was as if they were moving toward this moment for their entire lives, and now that it was happening, they had trouble believing it was finally upon them.

Sebastian stroked the girl’s hair and looked into her radiant face.

“Are you hungry, my love?”

Her eyes instantly wettened, and she negatively shook her head.

“I’ve been missing you the whole afternoon!”

Reluctantly, Sebastian let go of her and removed his coat and shoes. He wrapped his arm around the girl’s waist and went with her to the kitchen.

In the guestroom, he saw her suitcases and frowned.

“You didn’t unpack?”

She shrugged her shoulders.

“I wanted to do it with you.”

He smiled.

“Ok, we’ll do that later. What were you doing in the afternoon?”

The girl smiled.

“I went for quick shooting practice, then went to play with Lorie, and then I returned here and did my homework. I didn’t want to waste my time on it when you return home.”

Sebastian laughed and kissed her on the lips.

“Oh, my goodness, it still does not get through my thick skull how young you are, and what foolishness I am doing… Am I ruining your life?”

Sienna shook her head.

“If nothing else, you are saving me. Life with vampires is a dead-end in more senses than one.”

The man sighed, tossed aside his tie, and went to throw his uniform sweater and his shirt into the washing machine, put on a tank tee and washed his hands.

Then he walked past the girl so closely that he brushed her, and opened the fridge.

“What do you say about pasta Bolognese and rucola?”

She opened her mouth to answer but forgot to close it, watching the man putting fresh greens, veggies, and a packet of meat on the table.

“Are you going to… cook?” she asked, almost stuttering in awe.

Sebastian curved his brow, selecting a knife.

“Are you against cooking? Do you prefer frozen stuff heated in a microwave oven? I thought you got used to my cooking on the weekends…”

Sienna shook her head.

“I didn’t think you would do it on a daily basis… I thought you were… you know… showing off?”

The man laughed merrily.

“Oh, sure I was! But I do like fresh food…”

Suddenly remembering about his **_other_** side, the girl nodded knowingly.

“Ah, now I get it…”

His lips curled in a Cheshire smile.

“What do you get, Miss Richards?”

She smiled. 

“I suddenly realized why you take your showers **_after_** eating, not before…”

He shrugged his shoulders staying focused on mincing meat.

The girl looked at him mockingly and drawled:

“I just remembered a children’s tale, ‘Why Cats Wash Themselves After Eating’…”

Jones growled discontentedly, put down the knife, and reproachfully looked at Sienna.

“You and your cats! Cat lady…! I’m not a cat, I’m a man!”

She giggled.

“You’re so cute when you get angry!”

He sighed and took the knife again.

“Just you watch it!” he grumbled and resumed cooking.

The girl cocked her head, watching him, completely enamored.

“When did you know that it wasn’t a kiva?” she suddenly asked, standing up and going to fetch another knife and a slab.

Jones attentively looked at her and lightly smiled. He put in front of her an empty bowl and an onion, a big carrot and celery, and put his thumb and index closely together to show her the needed size of cut pieces.

“Well, to give you a short reply, I knew it as soon as we uncovered it – by the layout of the village. You’ll have to learn to read layouts like these. When you understand the culture, the nature of their beliefs, then the rest is all in ergonomics…” he turned from the table and waved his hands, “Just imagine, a villager steps out of his hut and bumps into a kiva? Or he goes to a… say… utility place for some mundane task, like eating or working. Common sense plus knowledge of what a sacred place would mean to them… Plus dozens of already uncovered similar sites of this culture… But why are you so concerned about kivas?”

Sienna slyly smiled, watching his eyes that were transporting him to that village and making it alive.

“A ‘utility place’, huh? Clever! A watchful professor to the end! So that I have to guess myself! And you continue staying on guard even now…?” she laughed merrily. “In accordance with what we know about the Muscogee culture, I guess it’s a granary. Don’t worry, I already wrote my paper with all the needed substantiation, and I promise you I will not correct it even if I’m wrong. But I’m not wrong, am I?”

Sebastian blew up his cheeks and leaned his fists on the table, frowning and laughing at the same time.

“Here comes the trouble, the shady gray areas, the whole nine yards of crap! Sienna, I gave you your own practice site in the woods that has no bearing on your learning program, why are you pestering me with school stuff? You will hand your paper to Dr. Brian Gilbert and will soon learn if you were right. Please don’t ask me such questions.”

The girl walked around the table and hugged the man. By contrast to her, he was so tall that her top of the head could barely touch his chin, and she had to bend her head all the way back to see his face.

“I’m sorry. But it’s so exciting to be able to discuss these things with you! When you are telling something, it’s like you are seeing vast multi-layered panoramas where others can see zilch, and I want so much to be able to see what you see!”

He looked at the girl mockingly, his hips pressing hers to the table, his hands on the top of her buttocks.

“You’re such a honey-tongue!” he laughed silently and kissed her on the lips. “Get back to your place while you still can…”

Sienna smiled foxily.

“If I ever start losing interest in you, you may start talking about archaeology… You start talking about mass-spectro or carbon dating analyses and you can fry eggs on my butt…”

Jones laughed out loud.

“So if I was that pot-bellied 60-year-old professor you and your friend Osborne imagined me to be, I’d still had a chance with you?”

“Definitely!” the girl kissed him one last time and went to resume her task.

“Ouch!”

Still laughing, Sebastian casually moved his hips a bit to adjust his awakening member and went to fetch two frying pans, one for meat and the other for veggies.

Sienna emptied the contents of the slab into the bowl and went on in a more serious tone:

“I wanted it to be a kiva because, well, I am fascinated with ancient rites and sacred sites… ‘There is so much more in heaven and earth…’ I think you would understand.”

Jones gravely nodded.

“I think I do… You see… I was never a ‘dappled cub’ as you’ve put it, it’s just that…” he paused, and Sienna realized by his voice that he was about to tell her his crucial secret, something that made him who he was. “I was once shown the way of the Jaguar. I was shown how my consciousness translated into form…”

He looked at her anxiously, never expecting to be understood, but the way he said those simple words resounded somewhere deep inside the girl, and he read in the blackness of her pupils – a recognition.

All the sounds in the kitchen resumed their normal volume, and Sebastian turned to the oven, leaving Sienna deliciously entranced. He was the right man for her, he had the same depth where she could follow him… A magnificent discovery.

Having told her and been understood, calmed him somehow, eased a small knot somewhere deep inside him, and made him breathe more freely. “She has just eased another dimension of me…” he thought with his heart smiling. A wonderful sensation.

The sauce Bolognese was on its way, and Sebastian, having put a timer, turned to his lover.

“All right, let’s get your stuff upstairs.”

Sienna grinned.

“I feel so awkward!”

Jones shrugged.

“Oh well, don’t expect me to haul your stuff up and down all night while you decide!”

She looked at him sheepishly.

“Do you really want me to be here?”

The man sighed and stepped toward her. His arms pressed her to his warm body. He kissed her on the top of her head.

“More than I care to admit. I definitely need a bit of your sunshine here. And if I steal it from Bartolis, it’s their loss. I want to live with you, Sienna. I feel such a relief when you are around…! Stay, and I will talk about mass-spectrometry as much as you want!”

They both giggled, and the girl nodded:

“Thank you, I am relieved now. Let’s go put my stuff where it belongs!”

Sebastian grinned and took the two biggest suitcases, the girl took the smaller one, and they went upstairs.

Jones turned left from the library. In the left aisle, there was only one door, and it gave to a huge room, the biggest in the house.

It was almost empty and devoid of any furniture, its warm wooden floors and large windows being its only embellishment.

There was a wardrobe installed into a niche, its only occupants being a basketball and a yoga mat.

Sebastian smiled.

“It used to be my meditation room before I understood that life itself can be a meditation,” his face displayed irony, when he added, “I arrogantly thought myself superior and special because of my meditation practice when in fact all I was practicing was just vanity.” He shrugged his shoulders and looked around. “But I still like this room, it is spacious and airy, it has good natural lighting… in short, you can take it, I will bring in the bed from the guest bedroom…”

Sienna loved the room! It was love at first sight, this space was perfect even without a bed in it.

She turned to her host.

“Could we just bring a mattress here? Seems like a crime to stuff it with furniture…”

Jones grinned.

“That’s what I would do myself! Use the wardrobe, and I will bring the mattress…”

He brought everything, including the bed linen, the nightlamp, the pillows and a blanket, then kissed the girl, whispered: “The sauce!” and darted out of the room.

After the meal, the couple quickly cleaned up the kitchen and hugged, smiling happily.

“We did it, didn’t we?” whispered Sebastian, stroking Sienna’s head and smelling her hair.

The girl closed her eyes tight and murmured:

“I’m afraid… a little. For you, mostly.”

Jones sighed and kissed her head.

“Me too. A little. But everything will be all right either way. If worse comes to worst, there are still a million possibilities to explore. So, I’m considering it as an adventure.”

Sienna nuzzled his chest and inhaled his smell.

“Don’t go to the shower yet, I love your smell…”

He laughed, stroked her shoulders, and stepped back.

“Oh, no, that’s not an option, dear!”

He winked at her and went to the ground-floor shower.

“Too bad…” murmured Sienna, eyeing his back and went to her new room.

When he came out of the shower, the girl was nowhere in sight. Her scent trail went upstairs, and the man put his foot on the first stair. He hesitated, suddenly overwhelmed by trepidation, and licked his lips. It felt like… the first time…

Carefully, he mounted the stairs and slowly approached the door to the meditation room. His fingertips touched the door frame, and he eased the door open, sliding it aside.

Sienna was lying on her new bed in a sexy silk nightie, but when she heard the shuffling door, she jumped up and climbed out of the bed.

“What took you so long?” she asked with a mocking pout.

Sebastian shrugged his shoulders and took his time to close the door behind him.

The girl grinned crookedly.

“Am I mistaken, or are you nervous?”

Jones curved his brow.

“What are you talking about, Miss Richards?”

Sienna let out a merry laugh.

“Oh, I can be Miss Richards to you when you wear your tie and the uniform sweater, but in these sweatpants, you have no authority to call me that!”

The man smirked and nodded:

“Duly noted.” He cast a curious glance around the room but, apart from the bed, did not find any significant changes. Apparently, the suitcases and their contents were now safely tucked into the wardrobe.

Sienna gingerly made a few steps toward the man and stretched out her arm. There was a wide ribbon in her hand, and the girl explained, poker-faced:

“I have in mind a… ah… private version of the blindfold dance. Care to try it out?”

Sebastian stared at her inquisitively, his eyes narrowed suspiciously.

“I don’t like the expression on your pretty face. It reeks of mischief…”

Trying to maintain a straight face, Sienna took her other hand from behind her back. There was her phone. She pushed “Play” and tossed the device onto the bed.

The first accords of _Everybody Knows_ began pouring from a portable amplifier, and the girl made another tentative step toward Sebastian. He exhaled discreetly and stayed glued to his place, carefully watching the girl’s moves. She reached him almost without breathing and, ready to jump back at any moment, put the ribbon over his eyes, tied it on his nape, and took him by the hand.

She tugged him to the center of the room and began dancing, but instead of chaste movements that they had performed in class, she went all the way, giving her hands free rein over his body, driving his fingertips to slide her shoulder strap off its rightful place and arching her back so that his palm would inevitably brush her excited nipple. The song was put on the loop, and the dance was becoming more and more heated… The second strap slid off her shoulder, and the man’s avid mouth covered her nipple for just one tact of the music, exciting the girl even further, teasing her, making her more uninhibited. He was slowly taking over her initiative, his strong arms playing with her body at his whim, hands lightly brushing her here and there, maddeningly light and volatile… Her nightie fell to the floor, and his hands instantly possessively grabbed her buttocks… for another maddeningly short moment. To escape the man’s sweet torture of her body, Sienna dropped to the floor, taking down with her his sweatpants.

Feeling her hot wet mouth, Sebastian groaned, momentarily losing the rhythm. But she was as much teasing and torturing him, as he had been torturing her, and when she finally pushed him to fall on the bed and landed on top of him, kissing and biting him all over, he could only let out passionate moans, his whole body undulating and arching under her caresses. Her fingers were exploring and invading his most intimate places, and he suddenly felt that he reached the point of no return.

He exclaimed: “Sienna! Don’t…!” when she mounted him, but he could not think any longer, his whole powerful body arched, his head tossed back, mouth open, and a loud groan escaped him, the body shuddered, convulsed and let out a long jet of white liquid. Sienna, screaming her lungs out, pressed her crotch to his hips as hard as she could, barely conscious from wild ecstasy. Her inner muscles were convulsing, milking the man for the last droplets of his precious juice, and both people fell to the slavery of this sensation. Without interruption, the girl began moving again, having removed the man’s blindfold and watching in adoration into his madly passionate eyes.

He hoarsely whispered: “Things you make me do…!” and rolled over with her in his clasp, plastering her to the bed. He put her legs on his shoulders and gave it to her so wildly that all the neighborhood heard it. After their second time, he finally extracted himself and whispered, kissing her: “I’m so sorry, baby!”

His fingertips lightly pressed a series of spots on her body, the last one being on her lower abdomen, each of his touches burning her like cigarette burns.

“Ouch!” she winced. “What’s this?”

Sebastian’s eyes phosphoresced in the dark when he repeated: “I’m sorry, baby… I just reset your moon cycle not to give you any further trouble.”

The girl watched him incredulously.

“But I’m on pills! I started taking them ever since… since you took me sightseeing…”

He shrugged.

“I told you, it doesn’t work with me. And the way you hacked my body tonight… better be safe than sorry.”

She caressed his wet hair and cheek and kissed him on the lips.

“But it was totally worth it. Don’t you agree?”

Jones sighed.

“Yes. I could not even imagine you could rape me with such devilry. I felt like a tortured slave, my body disobeying me in the most blatant manner…”

Sienna kissed him on the neck and murmured:

“Does it mean you want to rebel and punish me? Since I’m already out of any danger, maybe you could give it to me doggy style?”

The man laughed.

“Three is a charm…”

***

Drogo tore himself from the crease of the blond girl’s elbow. The girl was hypnotized, the puncture looked like a needle mark more than anything else.

Her hair had a similar tint to that of Sienna’s, and she was cute as well. But all Drogo was seeing was a porcelain doll that he wanted so much to smash into pieces.

The girl’s home was at the farthest possible distance from the manor, at the other edge of town. Lately, Drogo wasn’t giving a rat’s ass about his eldest brother’s prohibition to bite humans, and now he was considering what else to do with this young thing. Her hair was disturbing him, and he leaned over her to take in her smell, but at first sharply drew back, disgusted by her smelling like food and nothing else, no trace of the smell he longed so much to experience. Then he came back and roughly kissed her, tasting her. The girl meekly responded, completely under his spell.

“Do you want to have sex with me?” he asked her, knowing in advance her response.

“Yes! Oh, yes!” mumbled the poor thing, furiously blushing.

Drogo let her do everything, then sucked at the crease of her elbow again to get his high.

Afterwards, he told her:

“Hide the mark on your arm, you do not want your relatives to think that you’re a junkie. Cut your hair, you’ll look better with short hair. You don’t remember who took your virginity but you liked it. Wait for me, I will drop by once in a while.”

And he was off into the woods where he could roam uninhibited and free from his brothers’ nagging.

***

The University library was crowded at this hour, but it was the only time that Sienna could allocate for her extra-curricular research.

“Bloody Tears, Tears of Blood…” she mumbled, scrolling the microfilm. An open notebook in front of her displayed her scribbles such as: “Yahuar Vakak – Tears of Blood – Inca ruler – 1500-ies – Tezcatlipoca – Smoking Mirror – Sacred animal – Jaguar! – sacrifice – rivers of blood, etc.”

So far, it was just a wild hunt, and she was not even sure if these two subjects – the vampires and the jaguars – were related. But if she wanted to get some answers from her tight-lipped bunch, she’d better find something to prod them with.

Two first-years from the same Myths and Legends course as Sienna made themselves comfortable on the other side of the row of microfilm projectors and continued their conversation:

“Did he seem… uh... placated to you today?”

“What do you mean?”

“You know, when Mike from Biology got laid, he had this same lazy, satisfied look. And today, the professor was not eating up Richards with his shiny eyes…”

“Do you think she spread it for him?”

“Why not, she’s an easy dig…”

Both laughed.

“I wonder how Drogo Bartoli will take it. I haven’t seen him this whole week…”

“Maybe that’s what happened in his absence…?”

“Oh, he will tear her head off once he knows!”

“I’d like to see that…!”

Amused, Sienna peeked from behind her screen and cheerfully asked her classmates:

“Hey guys, since you’re on the subject, have you seen where Dr. Jones went after his class? I totally forgot I promised him a blow-job in his office!”

Both girls instantly turned beetroot-red, began stuttering, and ended up hurriedly retreating from Sienna’s sight. The latter laughed, shaking her head. Many local girls of her age still behaved like 19th-century prudes, but Sienna came from a vastly different environment, where first sex happened at 13 give or take, where one’s body was treated like an instrument of pleasure if not a temple, and where it was normal to discuss matters of sex with others. Hence, she was very much amused by local morals and found it exceedingly easy to unbalance those who tried to offend her.

Returning to her unsuccessful studies, she decided to take a different approach. The mention of certain Mike and the biology studies made her think of medical explanations of such a phenomenon, and she went to look for relevant documents.

***

“… no, even on the green background, because I would have no control over where they’d insert it. I’m sorry, Nancy, but I have enough trouble as it is to have my mug in a pop clip.”

Having waited for Sebastian to finish his conversation with Nancy the dance instructor, Sienna smiled at him.

“The local rumor says you finally got laid, professor Jones. My congratulations!”

Sebastian’s brows shot up, then he narrowed his eyes, expecting a provocation, and cocked his head:

“Why would that concern you, Miss Richards? Aren’t you happy with your Bartoli boyfriend?”

Sienna just moved her shoulder in an uncertain way, nodded to her friend Corrie and continued:

“The last time I saw my _boyfriend_ , he was extremely accommodating. I wonder where he learned those tricks…”

Jones cleared his throat and asked the girl:

“I’m not sure I am the right person to discuss such issues with you, Miss Richards. Why don’t you speak with your friends instead?”

Sienna mockingly pouted at him:

“I thought we were friends with you, Dr. Jones…?”

He laughed and shook his head in disbelief.

“Ok, I get it, Miss Richards, you’re in a playful mood today. Now, let’s work it out a bit, shall we?”

Still smiling foxily, Sienna waved to her friend Corrie to approach and, when the latter came, said:

“Professor, you know my friend Corrie, she wants to practice dancing with you but was too shy to ask you. Please treat her gently!”

And she was off, talking to her other friends and stretching.

Sebastian smiled at the purple-headed girl.

“Corrie, I’d be delighted to dance with you today.”

The girl grinned.

Today’s dance class made it obvious to everyone present that there weren’t any other comparable partners for Richards. She tried them all, but no one could handle her passionate dance style as well as Jones; however, she kept avoiding him, smiling, and cheering at Corrie. Her friend, on the other hand, was completely under the professor’s spell. She was even afraid that the memory of his hands on her torso would haunt her into the next day, that’s why she was happy when Sienna took her for the last dance and made her move with as much expression as she’d wanted but did not dare with the teacher.

Their performance was greeted very enthusiastically by the male part of the audience, and a general round of applause concluded this dance class.

Sebastian was waiting for her in the lobby, reading something on his phone, as usual. A cheerful crowd of students, including Sienna and Corrie, burst out of the locker room and passed him, saying their goodbyes and continuing to chat.

Seeing Sienna pass him and saying goodbye like everyone else, Jones frowned, a mixture of surprise and discontent written all over his face.

Sienna asked her friend to wait for her at the exit and returned to the man.

“You are acting weirdly today,” he said in a low voice. “What’s happening? Did I offend you somehow?”

The girl shook her head and sighed, affectionately looking at him.

“I want your eyes to stay shiny. That’s why I won’t make it easy for you. I want you to scream from pleasure but stay hungry all the same.”

She turned and hurried to the exit.

Sebastian cast a long look in her wake and curved his brow, smiling.

“Oh, so that’s a challenge?”

They bumped into Sarah on their way out of the campus. Sarah eyed Corrie with an ill-concealed expression of displeasure.

Sienna smiled at her. It was obvious that Osborne expected her BFF to spend the evening in her company.

“You know Corrie, right?” she grinned, as if totally oblivious to Sarah’s worsened mood. “Corrie, this is Sarah, you surely know her as well.”

The two girls smiled at each other, and Sienna hooked their arms through hers.

“How about a fun girls’ night out? With dances and what’s not at the King’s Head?”

“Oh, sounds awesome!!!” Corrie was ecstatic, and even Sarah could not say ‘no’ to such turn of events.

Sienna beamed.

“Perfect! Then I’ll see you there at, say, nine-thirty? Until then, I’ll have to leave you, because I still need to pay attention to my little Lorie…”

Sienna waved at Nicolas upon seeing him near his car, kissed the girls, and hurried to join him.

Corrie shook her head.

“How does she manage to juggle all those guys, I wonder?” she murmured, watching the eldest of the Bartoli brothers shine like a copper pot after a friendly kiss by Sienna.

Sarah sighed, looking in the same direction.

“No idea.”

Sienna climbed onto the passenger seat and beamed to Nicolas.

“How about we take Lorie to the amusement park tonight? I saw announcements all over the town…”

Nicolas smiled tenderly at her.

“I see you’re in a good mood. Love suits you, my dear.”

Sienna kissed him on the cheek.

“You are so right, my love.”

Nicolas’s breathing seized, he reached the girl’s lips, their tongues interlaced, and for a few minutes, there were only moans and wet sounds in the car, as both people were thoroughly kissing every inch of each other’s faces and throats.

“Sienna… you are making me… want you…” he whispered, licking at her hot pulsating neck.

“You’re always the one I want to return to…”

He frowned, stopped kissing her, and looked into her eyes.

“Are you breaking up with Dr. Jones?!”

She shook her head.

“No. God, no! I just need to put a little distance between us, otherwise, we’ll end up grilling each other to the bones.” She paused. “I’ve got my period today, and I know how you like it…”

Nicolas’s eyes glinted like rubies.

“Then let’s get out of here, the amusement park will wait.”

By the time Sienna showed up at the King’s Head, Sarah and Corrie were happily chatting about their favorite bass guitarist, all animosity forgotten.

A few people recognized Sienna as ‘that girl from the ad’, and their company grew exponentially by the minute.

Having winked at her friends, Sienna yelled on top of her lungs:

“Guys, I’ve got an idea! The three of us will dance with whoever wants to buy a drink… wait, no hooting, listen to the end! A drink for someone who came here alone tonight. For someone lonely, in a bad mood or plain upset. What do you say? We’ll leave those checks at the bar, and anyone without a company can ask to be served a free drink!”

The crowd cheered, there were a few claps of approval, and a burly red-haired man raised his hand with a twenty in it.

“I’ll be the first to dance with you, sweetie!”

Sienna gracefully gave him her hand and went with the man to the dance floor.

Sarah frowned.

“A ‘girls’ night’ my ass!”

Corrie laughed.

“A ‘girls’ night’ Sienna style!”

But the purple-head was more than willing to have fun ‘Sienna style’, and soon, Sarah discovered that she had no choice but to join her friends on the dance floor.

Before long, the band vocalist invited Sienna to a dance, and the friends lost track of her when the band said their goodnights to the public.

***

Sienna tried to turn the key as quietly as possible, but it still clicked.

The streets were washed with whitish pre-dawn light, and the town was as silent as a grave.

She closed the door behind her and crept up the stairs.

Jones was nowhere to be found. She went to check the whole house, but it was empty.

Relieved for some reason, the girl took a shower and went to bed.

***

She catnapped until morning, and then, impatiently, took her phone and dialed Sebastian.

There was no service, and she frowned.

The Descendants all over again?! She tried not to fret prematurely. It seemed that all of them were covered for the time being with plausible legends, and the charity event was just six days away…

She descended to the kitchen, and found a note there, reading: “Don’t worry, I’m safe.”

“That’s it? ‘Safe’? Whatever that means…”

She thought it over and decided to do her homework, some research, and then go see Lorie.

The weekend stretched on, interminably long, and Sienna came to hate the ‘No service’ beeping. She emptied several .38 clips into moving targets, pestered Nicolas about history, rummaged through the Bartoli library, then the next day she went with the almost whole vampiric family to the funfair and shot every available prize to Lorie’s delight.

When she came back to Jones’s house late on Sunday night, there was still no sign of the man. Cursing him, she prepared her stuff for the next day’s classes, talked to Sarah for an hour on the phone, and went to bed. She tried to stay awake, but read herself into sleep as expertly as could be expected from a person with her temperament.

She woke to the sound of the alarm clock. Listened to the house. Jumped out of bed and went to Sebastian’s bedroom. She could not say whether it was freshly disheveled, but she slid her hand under the blanket and it seemed to her that it was slightly warm.

She hurried to the kitchen but saw no change. Through the French window giving to the backyard, she spotted something lying on the ground near the hose and rushed to see what it was.

There was some mountaineering equipment: a hank of rope, a harness, a pair of gloves, an axe, crampons, an array of carabiners, a headlamp, an assortment of pegs and other small things, everything completely covered in clay and dumped carelessly on the ground.

The girl returned to the house and checked the washing machine. It was stuffed with dirty outdoor clothes. The ground-floor shower had small clay fragments in the crevasses between the walls and the floor. So Jones did return home at some point. Sienna’s eyes glistened with anger.

But there was no time to dwell on it, she had to go to classes.

The girl hurriedly went through her morning rituals, donned her uniform, grabbed her bag, and went to the exit.

It was a beautiful sunny morning. The sun shone through the glass roof of the stylish Block A. The lecture hall, where the future lawyers gathered for a joint lecture by their usual professor Trelawny and Dr. Jones from the archaeological department on peculiarities of assessing antiques, was designed in laconic white, brown and green accents. The majority of young would-be lawyers were not particularly interested in some ancient crap, but the young archaeologist spoke of it rather engagingly, and, accompanied by their professor’s remarks, the lecture did not end up as dull as it seemed initially.

However, the highlight of the lecture turned out to be not the invited archaeologist, but a completely unexpected event.

Halfway through the class, the door to the lecture hall opened, and a ravishing blond student strolled in. Her eyes were like thunders when she spotted Dr. Jones. Quickly, she came up to him, slapped him hard and loud across the face and tried to storm out of the room, but the most dexterous students caught her by the arm. A few others came to the student’s aid, and the offender was encircled.

Professor Trelawny, highly amused, commented:

“You were absolutely right to arrest this young lady! Now, who can tell me your next move in such a situation?”

Students guffawed:

“Shaft her…!”

“Give her a hard one…!”

“Blow off her steam...!”

Professor Trelawny interrupted them:

“That’s all very clever! Now, be serious, gents, or you’ll end up sued for harassment!”

One of them said:

“We should ask the offended party whether he wants to press charges against her…”

Their professor exclaimed triumphantly:

“Precisely! Dr. Jones, do you want to press charges against this young lady?”

Jones winced and rubbed his hurt cheek.

“No. I will have to talk to this young lady’s guardians though. You may let her go. Miss Richards, in my office, after this lecture. Your chances of getting selected for the expedition are dwindling.”

But Sienna, without looking at him, brushed off hands holding her and strolled toward the exit, defiantly flipping the bird as she went.

After that, the would-be lawyers agreed that it was the most exciting lecture of the semester. Many of them even concluded that the girl was hired by professor Trelawny to act as a plant to give them a hands-on experience, but the role of the archaeologist was left unclear.

When Dr. Jones appeared at his own lecture, his cheek was still reddish, and he looked pissed off. However, he was professional enough not to let this mar his class, and it ended, as always, with a barrage of questions and comments.

This time, he did not say anything to Sienna in front of the class, he just waited for her to come down from her row, arms crossed and watching her closely. When Sarah tried to hang around, he snapped:

“You may proceed, miss Osborne.”

Sarah cast a worried glance at Sienna and made herself scarce.

Dr. Jones took the girl firmly by the shoulder and, never minding the ogling students, led her to his office, closed the door behind them, and shut the louvers.

Only after that did he turn to her, his eyes ablaze.

“What the hell was that?!” he tried not to shout, but the hiss was even scarier. “If you lack drama, you can always ask your friend Drogo to give you that! What’s this, everything! You flit between the Bartolis and me as you see fit, all right, that’s your personal quirk, but you come to my class and slap me in the face! That’s completely unacceptable! Do you understand?! That never should have happened!”

But Sienna’s anger was as great as his.

“You know what’s unacceptable?! Me, holding your bloody head in my arms and seeing your intestines all over the place! And your… your… hands **_nailed_** to the floor! I will never recover from this atrocity, do you understand?!” her voice raised, and Jones tried to make a quieting gesture, but the girl exclaimed: “Don’t shush me! When you disappear like that that’s all I can think of! I cannot stand it! I hate it, I hate you!”

Jones grabbed her and squeezed very tightly against him, trying to hold her. She fought him like a true tigress for several minutes but he held tight, keeping her hands well outside the reach of his face, just in case.

She insulted him and tried her best to slide out of his grasp, but he still held on, wondering at her infinite source of vigor. Finally, he pushed her to the sofa and pressed her to it with his full weight. As the last resort, he bit her neck and held on to it, squeezing his teeth tighter if she tried to move. Suddenly, his animal side felt alive and very ready to enter the female. He froze, trying to calm his breathing. His canines stopped growing. Then retracted. He slowly let go of the girl’s neck and eased himself away from her.

“You drive me crazy!” he whispered, but it was unclear whether he saw it as a good or a bad thing.

He let her go and sat on the sofa, trying to get a grip on himself.

“That’s not… right…” he whispered and stood up. “Don’t expect me at the dance class today. I will be at my house. You may go.”

Sienna rose from the sofa, tidied her dress and hair, and said in a hoarse voice:

“Sorry. I should have never slapped you in public. Whatever happens between us need not involve other people. I will go apologize to that other professor. What’s his name?”

“Trelawny.”

“All right. Trelawny. I hope I can still make it up to you.”

And she left.

Sarah was waiting for her outside, red from overhearing all the ruckus, intrigued by the mention of the bleeding head and impatient to learn the details, but Sienna only mumbled: “I’m sorry, Sarah, I cannot tell you anything right now, I have to go.”

And she indeed went to find professor Trelawny and apologized. The professor was very pleased and indulgently made small talk with the young pretty student until he saw that she completely calmed down.

“Don’t lose perspective,” he told her in guise of the last advice, and Sienna seriously nodded.

“Thank you for your advice, sir. I believe that’s precisely what I’ve lost.”

She returned straight to Jones’s house, switched on the washing machine to wash his clothes, removed bits of clay from the shower, and went to the backyard to clean the equipment. She put aside those items she had no idea what to do with and set to wash the rest. By the time she heard the squeak of the back door, she was almost through all the pegs and carabiners.

Jones looked at her and silently went to help her.

They still weren’t on speaking terms, but at least he did not shun her, and it gave her some hope.

That night, he came into her room, silently and unceremoniously removed her nightie, put her face down on the bed, lay his full weight onto her, bit her in the neck, and furiously entered her. He was rough but in control, never hurting her more than she would accept, completely immobilizing her. After a while, she was ready to beg him to go faster, but he was still winding her up until she began whimpering. The man turned her over, fixated her arms on her chest so that she could not use them and continued, now roughly kissing her from time to time, his phosphorescent eyes glinting in the dark.

She tried to free her arms, and, surprisingly, he let her. She tugged at his head and found his lips with her own. Now she found the strength to say: “I do not seek to hurt you, and when I do it, I hurt myself. Please forgive me.”

Sebastian sighed.

“Just don’t do it, will you?”

He pushed so hard that she let out an involuntary guttural sound, a sure sign of approaching climax.

The man intensified his movements, and soon they both came in bright spasms.

Their second time was gentler, and they fell asleep in each other’s arms, having almost made up.

Drinking his morning tea, Sebastian examined his own note and tossed it aside.

“I should have been more precise,” he sighed as he eyed Sienna putting on her pullover.

She looked at him sadly and asked:

“Is there anything else I can do to rectify the… incident?”

Sebastian shrugged his shoulders.

“Professor Trelawny was very amenable. I don’t think that rumors started by his students will reach our dean’s ears. Even if they do, there is already a rumor that you were specially hired for the performance. I would support this idea…”

Sienna bit her lip.

“I feel so foolish!”

The man stroked her hair and lifted her face by the chin.

“It’s my fault too, I did not specify that I would be out all weekend. Although, for the future, you should try dealing with your fears in a less harmful way, because I cannot always be docile, available, and predictable.”

“ _Have we gone too far, have we lost our minds_ …” sang Sienna her new favorite song.

Sebastian whispered: “Maybe…” and kissed her on the lips.

When they opened the door to head for the campus, a lone blond-headed figure in a student’s uniform stood on the walkway to the house.

Sienna froze.

“Drogo! What are you doing here?!”

The blond vampire looked drawn, tired, but he appeared to be utterly calm, his mocking gaze was gentle.

“Heard about your performance yesterday, little thing. Thought your professor might need a hand with a cover-up. Plus, if you come out of this house in his company long enough someone will end up noticing.”

Sebastian frowned, resolutely stepped forward, and was surprised to see Drogo’s hand shoot toward him in a greeting gesture. The vampire was offering him his hand.

Looking each other in the eyes with alarming intensity, the two men shook each other’s hands.

Jones said:

“Thank you… Drogo. Your help is very appreciated.”

Drogo scoffed and said surprisingly good-naturedly:

“Now, I know why Nicolas likes you, you are as stiff-upper-lipped as he is.” Then he turned to Sienna and bent his elbow gallantly. “Are you coming, little thing?”

He let Sienna walk between them, cradling her hand in the nook of his arm, and started a casual conversation with Jones as if in continuation of their friendly football night.

Picking bits and pieces of it, Sienna began realizing the real age of her blond guardian, and it shook her.

“Oh my gosh, I’m surrounded by grandpas!” she exclaimed, laughing.

Both men looked at her, slightly vexed, but she laughed so contagiously that the three of them entered the campus grounds in very high spirits.

Judging by the looks on the faces of several encountered would-be lawyers, the performance version was now a done deal.


End file.
